Educational Policies

Question 1

Define educational policy

Answer 1

The plans and strategies for education introduced by government, together with instructions and recommendations from schools and local authorities.

Question 2

What is compulsory state run education?

Answer 2

1880
Type of education received was mainly dependent on their social class
Did little to change peoples ascribed status
Middle-class received a academic curriculum
Working-class got a basic education

Question 3

What is the tripartite system?

Answer 3

1944-1978
Based on improving the quality of opportunity
The butler act 1944 introduced free secondary education for all up to the age of 15
Children were to be sifted sorted and selected into one of three different types of secondary school
11+ exam
All children took the same test at age 11

Question 4

Evaluation of the tripartite system

Answer 4

Unsuccessful in tackling inequality because most middle-class people is passed the 11+ and went to grammar schools whereas most working-class peoples failed the 11+ and attended secondary modern schools or technical schools

Therefore this policy failed to promote meritocracy and instead reproduced social class inequalities and prevented social mobility


Question 5

What is the comprehensive school system

Answer 5

1965
Labour government
Aimed to create a quality once again amongst the social classes
Abolished the 11+ to make the system more meritocratic
All pupils attended the same local comprehensive school


Question 6

Evaluation of Comprehensive schools

Answer 6

Some areas did not go comprehensive as it was left to the local authority to decide as a result in some places the grammar secondary modern divide still exist
There are 164 grammar schools in England still

Hargreaves 1967 and Ball 1981 argued that the comprehensive schools themselves created inequality as they created the banding setting a streaming system in which working-class children are more likely to be placed in bottom sets and middle-class children in the top sets

Question 7

What is new vocationalism

Answer 7

1979
New rights politicians
Claim that youth unemployment was caused by the education system not producing peoples with the right skills that we needed for employment and modern economy
Alternative to academic education

Question 8

Evaluation of vocationalism

Answer 8

Vocationalism essentially brought back a two tier system that comprehensives had sought to eradicate

Mostly working-class pupils

Question 9

What is marketisation

Answer 9

1988
Consumer choice competition
Introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition the area is run by the state such as education. This is the idea that education should be run like a business. Schools would compete with each other for customers in the form of parents and students.

Question 10

Marketisation policies

Answer 10

League tables, OFSTED inspections, business sponsorship, open environment, national curriculum, formula funding, opting out of Lee control.

Question 11

Evaluation of marketisation

Answer 11

Only advantage middle-class parents rather than all parents

Can play the system

Overall some criticise the reforms implemented by marketisation as a clean they have put pressure on teachers and pupils to perform and 10 schools focus from education to be efficient and attractive to potential parents

Question 12

What are new Labour policies

Answer 12

1997-2010
Aimed to ensure equality of opportunity

Educational maintenance allowance was introduced out students from low income backgrounds attend further education

 The gifted and talented initiative was introduced to identify the top 5% of students aged 11 to 18 in inner-city secondary schools and provide them with extra study supports

Sure start centres best tablets to compensate from home background in to tackle the disadvantage working-class children based before they even started school E.G.free childcare and early years education to every child 

Question 13

Evaluation of new Labour policies

Answer 13

Paul 2013 suggest that under new labour they were overall increases in the proportion of students getting five or more GCSEs at grade C and improvements in achievement for some ethnic minorities

It is a myth in the middle-class parents could truly take advantage because they had more capital

Question 14

What are coalition policies

Answer 14

2010

Strongly influence on Neo-liberal a new bright ideas about reducing the state in the provision of education through marketisation

Question 15

Academies

Answer 15

Allowed all existing faith and state schools that had achieved an outstanding grade in OFSTED to become academies

Don’t have to follow the national curriculum

Get money direct from the government not the local council

By 2012 over half of all secondary schools had converted to academy status

Question 16

Free schools

Answer 16

Newly created school set up by groups of parents teachers charities and trust religious involuntary groups

Improve educational standards by taking control away from the state and giving power to the parents

Similar to academies as three schools consult their own pay and conditions for staff, change the length of school terms of school day, and they don’t have to follow the national curriculum

Question 17

Evaluating the impact of coalition policies

Answer 17

Coalition government allowed any school to become an academy
Which removed the focus on reducing the quality and place it with a focus on marketisation which benefits middle-class parents and peoples

However Rebecca Allen (2010) argues that research from Sweden shows that they only benefit children from highly educated families

Question 18

Privatisation of education

Answer 18

Conservative government supports it
Involves moving functions previously provided by the state or government to being owned by private company for profit


Question 19

Examples of Privatisation

Answer 19

Activities run by private businesses
Vending machines in schools
Educational conferences for teachers and students
Supply teachers provided by agencies
Services are better than governments
Focus of the company is purely profit

Question 20

Evaluation privatise policies

Answer 20

Supporters argue that services that private companies offer are to a high standard and meet the variety of educational needs

However critics argue that privatisation will eventually mean education will know longer be seen as a human right that should be available to all it will be a commodity bought and sold

Question 21

Globalisation and educational policy

Answer 21

Influenced by borrow invest practice in education systems in other parts of the world e.g. free schools in Sweden

The British schools and universities market themselves to a global audience

Question 22

Evaluation of globalised policies

Answer 22

Paul 2012 is critical of the globalisation of educational services. He argues that students are increasingly being seen as commodities to be bought and sold to profit

However Holborn 2016 suggest that globalisation may have a positive affect on the British education system. Increased migration has led to more multicultural curriculum thus improving the understanding of other cultures and racial and ethnic tolerance tolerance